Tuesday, September 8, 2009

The Case for the Weak NT: Offshape 1NT openings and rebids

Playing a weak notrump, there is less need to open 1NT with imperfect shape. For example:

x
AJxx
Kxx
AKJxx

Playing a weak notrump you open 1C and rebid 1NT if partner responds 1S. However, playing a strong notrump you have a real problem. The hand is not good enough to reverse but too good to rebid 2C. I suspect most experts would open 1NT if the singleton spade was an ace or king, otherwise open 1C and either 'upgrade' to a reverse or 'downgrade' to a 2C rebid. This is unsatisfactory as there is a significant gap between the upper limit of a simple rebid of the suit opened and the lower limit of a reverse. I suppose you could also try a 3C rebid on a five card suit but that is a significant misdescription.

Opening 1NT leaves you poorly placed if partner is weak with five spades (he'll transfer and pass) or when he has four hearts, e.g.

xxx
KQxx
xxx
Qxx

Or a balanced hand with no spade stop:

xxx
Kxx
AQxx
Qxx

And the worst case is good club support:

Axx
KQx
Ax
xxxxx

It would be a pity to bid 1NT-3NT when 7C is possible. Even if you only open 1NT when the singleton is an honour, a hand with the king of spades instead of the king of diamonds would do equally well in 7C. If the hands didn't fit well 6C would still often be a good contract.

After opening 1C and hearing 1NT from partner, the 1NT rebid is not ideal either but you do avoid the worst of the problems with an offshape 1NT, exemplified by the example hands above. The reverse problem does not apply with an offshape 12-14. Without the king of diamonds you would be too weak for a 15-17 1NT rebid but there is no problem as you can open 1C and rebid 2C if partner bids 1S.

There are some players who are happy to open 1NT offshape and believe they gain by doing so. If you are one of them, then you won't regard it as a disadvantage that the strong notrump forces you to do so. However, the idea that you gain by opening 1NT as often as possible is also yet another argument in favour of the weak notrump.

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